Zhen (Naruto Fanfiction) -Watty Awards 2012-

Chapter One

“Well, we can safely say she’s been through some hard times,” Kakashi says with a nod.  “I’ll postpone our mission for tomorrow, it can wait.  Tsunade also gave me permission to do so, if needed.  Now, go home and get some rest, I assume you’ll be back tomorrow?”

Sakura smiles sheepishly.  Then she wakes Naruto, and the three walk out of the hospital.  Kakashi watches them leave, before turning his gaze back to the hospital rooms.

“What could have happened,” he ponders out loud. 

~*~

The girl shifts underneath the sheet that was draped over her body.  Her head ached terribly, but she noticed that she was at least warm, and the rest of her body didn’t feel as bad.  It seemed like too much of an effort to open her eyes, but her mouth was extremely dry, and she ached for some water.

She sighs softly, hoping her sister would come in to wake her soon, she felt to drowsy to actually wake up herself. 

That’s when something clicked.

The memories flooded back with a wave of nausea.  She lurches forward and empties her already emptied stomach onto the floor.  Her throat burned with stomach acid, as she coughed.  Her eyes snapped open, because she felt something strange in her arm.

“Where am I?”  She asks, using her village’s language, considering it was the only language she knew.  Her throat burned as she talked, and her eyes gaze with fear around the brightly lit room.  It was a pristine white, and she noticed she was lying in a bed.

She sits up quickly, and then cries out in pain, as she looks down at her chest.  The sheet slipped off her, and she blinked with confusion at the bandages around her chest and stomach.  Her eyes drift to her arm, where something was sticking out of it.  She looks up to see what it was attached to –a bag of water?

Confused and frightened, the girl rips the thing from her arm, as she cringes with pain.  Specks of blood fall onto the sheet, as she holds her arm.  Tears well up in her eyes, as she shuffles to the edge of the bed, before falling off.

Tears begin to fall freely now, as she yells in pain, before squirming to the corner of the room, pulling her legs in close to her now aching body.  She begins to sob, as she lowers her head, frightened.

She then hears something get pushed, causing her to snap her head up.  She leans back into the wall as she looks at a girl with pink hair and wide turquoise eyes, staring at her with concern.

“Who are you, and where am I?” The girl asks her voice cracking.  She sobs again.  The pink haired girl got a look of confusion written on her face.

“Can you speak my language?” The pink haired girl asks slowly and gently.  The girl crouched on the floor stares at her, unable to recognize anything she said.  Bit by bit, the pink haired girl walks over to the girl on the ground. 

Suspicious, the girl curls up even more and glares at the pink haired girl with alarm.  The girl approaching stops and smiles softly, before crouching down to the ground.  The pink haired girl then sits cross legged near the scared girl.

“Sakura,” the pink haired girl says, pointing to herself.  “Sakura.”

The girl on the ground keeps staring at her, through her tears, trying to console her aching body. 

“Sakura.  My name is Sakura,” Sakura says slowly, pointing at herself every time she said Sakura.  The girl on the ground blinks slowly, and lowers her arms, slowly sitting up a bit.

“Sakura Haruno,” Sakura says one more time, pointing at herself.  She then opens her hand and motions at the girl.

“Sakra,” the girl says slowly, her accent thick.  Sakura smiles.